Have you ever heard the “Cotton Patch
Gospel”? It is a rather peculiar but intriguing paraphrase of the
gospels written back in the 1940-1950 era of the Old South. The
writer was one Clarence Jordan. He was a man found faithful to God.
Here is his story:
Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual
abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture
and one in Greek and Hebrew. So gifted was he, he could have
chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In
the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it
Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor
blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not go over well in
the Deep South of the '40s. Ironically, much of the resistance
came from good church people who followed the laws of
segregation as much as the other folk in town. The town people
tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him,
and slashing workers' tires when they came to town. Over and
over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him.
Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had
enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him
once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and
set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence's home,
which they riddled with bullets. And they chased off all the
families except one black family which refused to leave.
Clarence recognized the voices of many of the Klansmen, and, as
you might guess, some of them were church people. Another was
the local newspaper's reporter. The next day, the reporter came
out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble still smoldered
and the land was scorched, but he found Clarence in the field,
hoeing and planting.
"I heard the awful news," he called to
Clarence, "and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your
farm closing." Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The
reporter kept prodding, kept poking, trying to get a rise from
this quietly determined man who seemed to be planting instead of
packing his bags. So, finally, the reporter said in a haughty
voice, "Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you've
but fourteen years into this farm, and there's nothing left of
it at all. Just how successful do you think you've been?"
Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward
the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly
but firmly, "About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don't
think you understand us. What we are about is not success but
faithfulness. We're staying. Good day." Beginning that day,
Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is
going strong today.1
Our life of faith is not about success
according to the world’s definition of success. It is about
faithfulness. How can you and I be faithful to Christ to the end?
Our Scripture passage today gives us three ways that we can become
faithful servants like Brother Clarence.
Main Point:
You can be faithful to the end because of
your confidence in Christ, His word, and His reward.
Outline:
1. Confidence in the Word of Christ.
- A. The Charge
- B. The Motivation
- C. The Truth
2. Confidence in the reward of Christ.
- A. Death is not the end.
- B. Your reward is a motivator.
3. Confidence in the person of Christ.
A. Nearing the end, you need your
brothers and sisters in Christ.
B. To get to the end, you need Christ
Himself.
1. Confidence in the Word of Christ.
1In the presence of
God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and
in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct,
rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth
and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations,
endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the
duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5, NIV)
A. The Charge
It was St. Francis of Assisi that said,
“Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”2
With great clarity and power, the Bible instructs us to “preach the
word” with words. In spite of all the television, radio, and
internet preaching available, it still seems necessary that you and
I be “preachers of righteousness” (2 Peter
2:5) like Noah, Paul (Acts 15:35), Priscilla (Romans
16:3) and many others.
Realize that when you preach the word to one
or more people, you may get an objection. “Don’t go to meddling in
my life!” you may hear. Or have you ever heard someone say to you,
“Don’t preach me a sermon!” Yet that is exactly what is needed
today. Someone must turn the tide of ungodly living to the LORD
Jesus Christ. It will only get worse without the life-changing word
of God.
Who will answer this charge?
B. The Motivation
The Bible gives us this solemn command based
on three motivating factors (v1):
- The certain judgment of God – we are to
preach the word to this generation because of God’s judgment of
our own life of faith and for the benefit of others who will be
judged one day as well (Revelation 20:11-15). We all need the
word of God.
- The imminent appearance of the LORD
Jesus – When Jesus returns, will He find you at work doing His
work (Luke 18:18)?
- The holy kingdom of God – God is holy
and so is His kingdom. The word of God has a cleansing effect on
those who hear it and take it to heart (Ephesians 5:26).
C. The Truth
The main job of the church is to guard and
proclaim truth. This truth is not a way of life, nor a philosophy,
but our truth is a person – the LORD Jesus Christ Himself!
Jesus answered, "I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me" (John 14:6, NIV).
So what difference does it make that our
truth is a person not a philosophy?
3For the time will come
when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their
own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their
ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4,
NIV)
A philosophy is easier to manage – it can be
ignored or changed whenever you decide to do so. The time will come
when people will turn aside from Christ and the cross looking for a
philosophy that promises more immediate returns.
But you cannot change the truth when it is
the person of the LORD Jesus Christ:
7Remember your leaders,
who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way
of life and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:7-8, NIV)
The difference it makes that our truth is a
person and not a philosophy is that it gives us confidence that what
we believe is in fact the word of God. It is not a “religion” made
by humans. It is not a holy book devised by clever people to trap us
into certain moral inhibitions. It is the word of God confirmed by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Do you live with this confidence in the word
of God?
After observing one lynching, Elijah
Lovejoy was committed forever to fighting uncompromisingly the
awful sin of slavery. Elijah Lovejoy was a Presbyterian
clergyman who left the pulpit in the 1830’s and returned to the
printing press to get the word out to more people. The Civil War
might have been averted and a peaceful emancipation of slaves
achieved had there been more like him. Mob action was brought
against him time after time; neither this nor many threats and
attempts on his life deterred him. Three times his printing
presses were destroyed. Three times he built them new ones. "If
by compromise is meant that I should cease from my duty, I
cannot make it. I fear God more than I fear man. Crush me if you
will, but I shall die at my post..." And he did, four days
later, at the hands of another mob. No one of the ruffians was
prosecuted or indicted or punished in any way for this murder.
(Some of Lovejoy's defenders were prosecuted! One of the mob
assassins was later elected mayor of Alton!) However, note this:
One young man who was deeply moved by what he heard and saw in
the Lovejoy martyrdom. He had just been elected to the Illinois
legislature. His name was Abraham Lincoln.3
Your confidence in God’s word will make a difference to those around
you. You convictions matter.
And you can be faithful to the LORD Jesus
Christ and effective in His kingdom work because of your confidence
in His word. So:
…keep your head in all
situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge
all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5, NIV)
2. Confidence in the reward of Christ.
6For I am already
being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my
departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for
his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8, NIV)
A. Death is not the end.
Paul saw that his death was imminent. The
appeals were made and denied. The sentence was final. His execution
was a certainty. Unless God divinely intervened, Paul would soon
breathe his last breath on Earth.
Notice that he does not speak of his death
but, rather, “my departure” (v6).
Because of Paul’s faith in the LORD Jesus, he knew that his death
would simply be a passing from this world straight into Heaven.
1Now we know that if the
earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God,
an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. … 5Now it is
God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the
Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 6Therefore
we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in
the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight.
8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body
and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1,5-8, NIV)
To be away from the body
is to be at home with the LORD (v8).
21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go
on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet
what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I
desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but
it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians
1:21-24, NIV)
To depart from this life is to be with Christ
(v23). This was Paul’s conviction based on the word of the LORD
through the Holy Spirit.
B. Your reward is a motivator.
8Now there is in store for
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all
who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8, NIV)
The word translated “crown” is not the Greek
word “diadema” for a royal crown of gold upon the head of a king and
queen. Rather, it is “stephanos” – the laurel wreath given to
athletes who have won a race. Paul ran the race of faith and won. He
was faithful to the LORD Jesus and looked forward to the reward for
victors.
Such a reward is a great motivator.
Consider the man who opened his front
door one morning to get his newspaper and was surprised to see a
strange little dog with the newspaper in his mouth. Delighted
with this unexpected "delivery service," he fed the little dog
some treats. The following morning he was horrified to see the
same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail,
surrounded by eight newspapers. He spent the rest of that
morning returning the papers to their owners.4
The “crown of
righteousness” goes to us who live by faith and are
faithful to Christ to the end. Can you be faithful to the end? You
can if you keep the reward in plain view – the reward that goes to
victors.
Q: But what if I fail … does that mean no
reward for me? Remember your strength and direction comes from the
LORD. He has already won the victory over sin. The struggle to be
right with God is settled forever by His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet the
work remains to be done. We will all get tired and sidetracked from
time to time. Just remember this: it is not failure to fail. It is
failure to refuse to try again.
God is gracious and merciful to His children.
If you fail, confess your sin (whatever it was), and get up again in
the thunderstorm of infinite grace. God has more grace than the
Energizer Bunny has batteries. He will shower you with His grace
that keeps going and going and going … you get the picture.
The reward was not just one Paul expected.
The Bible says, “And not only to me, but
also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8, NIV).
Your faithfulness to Christ is tied to your
expectation of a reward. Like that little dog, if you know that you
will be rewarded you will work that much harder. In fact, God gives
us rewards for eternity – by definition this means things that will
last forever.
So being confident
of His reward, let us fight the good fight of faith, let us finish
the race of serving Christ, let us keep the faith once for all
entrusted to the saints. (Jude 1:3)
The time was the 19th of May, 1780. The
place was Hartford, Connecticut. The day has gone down in New
England history as a terrible foretaste of Judgment Day. For at
noon the skies turned from blue to gray and by mid-afternoon had
blackened over so densely that, in that religious age, men fell
on their knees and begged a final blessing before the end came.
The Connecticut House of Representatives was in session. And as
some men fell down and others clamored for an immediate
adjournment, the Speaker of the House, one Colonel Davenport,
came to his feet. He silenced them and said these words: "The
Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is
not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be
found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be
brought." 5
3. Confidence in the person of Christ.
A. Nearing the end, you need your
brothers and sisters in Christ.
9Do your best to come to
me quickly, 10for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted
me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and
Titus to Dalmatia. 11Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him
with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12I sent
Tychicus to Ephesus. 13When you come, bring the cloak that I left
with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. (2
Timothy 4:9-13, NIV)
Paul was almost all alone at this time –
nearing his death he wanted his brothers with him and his scrolls
(the Bible). Note who he specifically asked for in verse 11 – Mark.
This was a brother who had abandoned Paul’s missionary journey at
one point leaving Paul with a very bad opinion of Mark:
36Some time later Paul
said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the
towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are
doing." 37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them,
38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had
deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the
work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.
Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40but Paul chose Silas and
left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41He went
through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts
15:36-41, NIV).
You see, even Apostles were not perfect. But
God’s redemptive love was at work in both Mark and Paul. Of all the
people Paul asked for near the end, he asked for Mark
“because he is helpful to me in my
ministry” (v12).
Think about who you would want near you as
you drew close to your last breath. Your family? Certain brothers
and sisters in Christ? And would others want you to be one of those
people?
Be helpful to others – make that a
cornerstone of your ministry in Christ. They want remember much of
what you said but they will remember your love for them.
B. To get to the end, you need Christ
Himself.
14Alexander
the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him
for what he has done. 15You too should be on your guard against him,
because he strongly opposed our message.
16At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone
deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood
at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message
might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I
was delivered from the lion's mouth. 18The Lord will rescue me from
every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.
To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:14-18, NIV)
The LORD Jesus was with Paul (“the
LORD stood at my side” v17) just as He promised:
And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20, NIV)
And again,
16And I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever-- 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He
lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as
orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18, NIV)
And again,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” 6So we say with confidence, "The Lord is
my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews
13:5-6, NIV)
Not only was Paul confident that the LORD was
with him but that the LORD would deliver Him:
18The Lord will rescue me
from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly
kingdom. (2 Timothy 4:18, NIV)
Note that Paul is not expecting the LORD to
keep him from all harm but that the LORD would rescue him from such
attacks. That rescue might include bringing him home to his reward
in Heaven. The idea is that we should not be afraid of people,
whether friend, stranger, or adversary. Jesus said it this way:
27What I tell you in the
dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim
from the roofs. 28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:27-28, NIV)
With confidence in the LORD Jesus Christ –
His presence and power available to you at all times – you can be
faithful to the end. He gives you strength, protection, peace, or
whatever else is needed for the journey here or the journey home.
Conclusion:
Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a
Vacation Bible School because he was invited by some neighbor
children. He went back to the same church for Sunday School
classes for 400 Sundays. Each week he was faithfully picked up
by a bus driver. Week after week he attended church, but never
made a commitment to Christ. Finally, during his senior year in
High School, after being picked up for church over 400 times, he
did commit his life to Christ. What if that bus driver had given
up on Geisler at 395? What if the bus driver had said, "This kid
is going nowhere spiritually, why waste any more time on him?"6
Be confident in the word of Christ that
“will not return to Me empty, but will
accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent
it” (Isaiah 55:11, NIV).
Be confident in the reward of Christ that
will be yours for your service. “God is not
unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him
as you have helped his people and continue to help them” (Hebrews
6:10, NIV).
Be confident in the person of Christ. It is
the LORD Jesus Christ Himself who is with you in the work that He
has called you to do.
Be confident in these and you can be faithful to the end.
End Notes
1. Tim Hansel. Holy Sweat.
Word Books Publisher. Copyright 1987. pp. 188-189. Accessed
01/31/2004.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=f&whichFile=faithfulness
2. Accessed March 4, 2011.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/francis_of_assisi.html
3. Paul Simon, Elijah
Lovejoy. Presbyterian Life. 18:13 (November 1, 1965). Quoted in K.
Mennenger, Whatever Became of Sin, p. 210. Accessed April 10, 2004.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=l&whichFile=conviction
4. Marion Gilbert, Reader's
Digest, February, 1994, p. 12. Accessed May 8, 2004.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=r&whichFile=rewards
5. Robert P. Dugan, Jr.,
Winning the New Civil War, p. 183. Accessed 01/31/2004.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=f&whichFile=faithfulness
6. Max Lucado, God Came
Near, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 133. Accessed 01/31/2004.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=f&whichFile=faithfulness
© Copyright 2011, Randy Lariscy.
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